Improvement in devices for cleaning steam-generators



D. L. LATOURETTE.

Devices for Cleaning Steam-Generators. No; 145,577, Patented Dec116,\873.

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UNITED TATES AENT QFFICE.

DAVID L. LATOURETTE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FOR CLEANING STEAM-GENERATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 145,577, dated December 16, 1873; application filed J nne 21, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID L. Lnrouunrrn, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cleaning Steam-Generators, of which the following is a specification:

The ordinary mode of removing mud and other deposits from steam-boilers is by hand labor with suitable scraping implements. An other plan which has been suggested, and, I believe practicable, in England, is to fill the boiler, when cool, with steam, and thus, by

the sudden and extreme changeof temperature, cause the scale or crust to crack and separate from the surface to which it adheres. The practice of blowing off has been also resorted to, but it is comparatively useless, because the pressure inside of the boiler remains alike in all directions, except in a small part immediately around the escapepassage, over which the current is sufiicient to remove the deposit; but in all other portions it remains undisturbed.

The frequent necessity for cleaning the boilers readily, particularly in the steamboat business of the western rivers, and the stationary boilers, whose waters are so foul, demand a more ready means than this, which requires suflicient delay after the boiler is thus blown off for it to cool sufficiently to allow a person to go in. I therefore provide steamboilers with independent and permanent pipe connections, the same having cocks or valves, whereby, as soon as they are blown off, a current of steam or other fluid may be forced through the boilers, said current being impelled by suitable means. The injectionpipe is attached to the boiler at one end on the upper side, and the discharge pipe or connection at the, diagonally-opposite end. Thus the current of steam or other fluid acts on the sedimentary deposit immediately around the point of entrance, .and thence extends its influence to all the remaining parts of the inner surface of the boiler, and, driving the same before it, carries it toward the lowest and most distant point, where it is forced out of the boiler through the pipe-connection there applied.

the pipe-connection for injecting the steam,

water, air, or other fluid from any competent source; and C is the discharge-opening for the escape of the current of steam, water, or air, together with the sediment to be expelled by it. D, E, and F represent different kinds of forcing apparatus. G represents the cock for turning on the current, and H the one for opening the discharge.

t will be seen that by providing these connections to the boiler, and the means for foreing the currents through the boiler, the work can be done in a few minutes after the boiler is blown off without opening it (except the discharge) or waiting for it to cool off, and it will be done better than it can be done by hand.

A boiler may be thus cleansed of mud and thin scale at frequent intervals with slight labor and little loss of time, thereby preventing the formation of a thick or rigid scale, and obviating the necessity of hand labor, or provision of a large orifice through which to remove the scale.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patcut- A steam-boiler, A, provided with inlet and discharge pipe connections B and 0 applied thereto, and having cocks G H, as shown and described, so that said boiler may be connected with a forcing apparatus, and a current of steam or other fluid forced through it from one end to the other, thus removing and washing out the mud or sediment, as set forth.

D. L. LATOURETTE.

Witnesses:

A. P. THAYER, T. B. Mosnnn. 

